


Without Fear

by Summershizzle



Category: Daredevil (2003), Daredevil (Comics), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Comics), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:14:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23522905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Summershizzle/pseuds/Summershizzle
Summary: The turtles track down a lone vigilante with a unique fighting style. From misconceptions to a possible partnership, the turtles and Daredevil attempt to take down some bad guys.
Comments: 16
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

“Hey Leo, I think I’ve got another hit on the guy we’ve been reading about. He’s still in the Hell’s Kitchen area as far as I can tell from the scanners.”

Leo, Raph and Mike all looked up from their spots on the couch when Donatello stepped out of the lab with his announcement.

“Civilians or known criminals?”

“Known criminals, again. He’s always targeting them. I haven’t been able to find even one instance of a civilian caught in the crosshairs, even accidentally.”

Raph interrupted Leonardo’s pensive look, “Yo, you think this guy’s gonna be an ally? Vigilantes don’t make friends.”

“I know that, Raph. I also know that eventually civilians do get caught in the messes they create. What do you think, Donny? Is it worth trying to figure out what this masked man is after?”

Mike peeked over the edge of the super hero comic book he was reading, “Maybe he’s just like us. Maybe he sees injustice in the world and just wants to fix the wrongs.”

“Your call, Leo, obviously, but I think it’s worth taking a look. All we’ve seen so far are cell phone videos and low tech security camera footage. It’s hard to tell motive from that.”

Leo paused, deep in thought. He had watched the videos multiple times. This vigilante was unlike anyone they had ever encountered. His fighting style was almost supernatural. His anticipation of what was coming at him stronger than anything he and his brothers had mastered. As a friend and ally, this man could be extremely valuable. As an enemy, he would be deadly. 

“We are going on a scouting mission. This is evidence gathering only. We do not engage unless I give the word. This could end up being very dangerous for us.” 

“Come on, Leo, he’s a masked man in a red leather bodysuit. How bad could this clown be? We’re ninja, he’ll never see us comin’.”

Leo met Raph’s eyes, hoping his seriousness would be felt by all of them. “I'm not so certain of that.”


	2. Chapter 2

The rain had decreased to a drizzle, but was still enough to give him a clear view of his target. The ally stretched out before him, his mark at the far end, backed against a wall. Matt had chased Johnny “The Mouth” Pergada halfway through Hell’s Kitchen. Actually, chased was a stretch. He had taunted and teased him more than anything, giving him the hope that he would actually make it out of this alive. Pergada had been running a drug front for The Kingpin, who was still incarcerated. He could have let him live, if it was just the drugs. Pergada got greedy though and started trading in flesh. And that was something Matt just could not allow to go unchecked. 

Pergada had tiny little cuts all over his arms and one fairly substantial slice just below his ribcage. He had dripped blood all over the adjacent 4 streets and was getting tired. Tired meant he would be less cautious. Matt was hoping he would let slip the two men he was working directly with. He needed those names before this man died or there would just be another thug to fill in the gap that this criminal would leave behind.

He heard the sound of the shuriken before he heard the movement of the one who threw it. He sidestepped and it landed with a clang right at Pergada’s feet. Matt was never one to let an opportunity go to waste.

“I’m not the only one who wants you dead. Why don’t you tell me who you’re working for. We can strike a deal before you get killed here.”

Another shuriken flying towards his head made Matt glance behind him with a scowl as he moved out of its path. He hadn’t focused enough to determine who was throwing it or where they were hiding.

“You’re running out of time. Give me the names and I’ll walk away.” _For now,_ he thought to himself. _Besides, looks like I’ve got company to deal with anyway._

“They’ll kill me if I tell you,” Pergada hissed at him. 

“You’re dead anyway, old man. At least this grants you a few days to find a good hiding place.”

Pergada looked down at the two small weapons embedded in the concrete at his feet and sighed, “It’s Lee, he’s the one I report to.”

“Who else? I know there are two.” 

“That’s the only one I know, I’m not lying. Please just let me go.”

“Fine. I won’t kill you.”

Matt had enough warning to know when the sai hurtling towards him was at the exact angle it needed to be. He pulled Pergada in front of him and glared defiantly to the rooftop of the building next door as the sai sank into the criminal's chest. Pergada slumped in his arms and Matt tossed him to the side. 

As the shape of the one on the rooftop became clear, Matt barely concealed his surprise. It wasn’t the typical assassin he had come to expect. The short dense person ducked behind the edge of a ventilation system and Matt wondered how he moved so quickly with such a large backpack. Whoever he was, he was quick and had unerring accuracy with thrown objects. 

Matt had what he wanted, a dead thug who sold undocumented women as sex toys to the highest bidder and the name of one of the accomplices. He could deal with this new threat later. He had business still to tend to tonight. 

He took off back out of the ally and ran down another side street, before ducking into an open warehouse. This was one of his usual routes and would reroute him behind where he had first seen the assassin. He would be able to lose the tail from there.


	3. Chapter 3

“Fuck” Raphael’s voice rang out in the stillness of the night.

“Raphael” Leo hissed from the shadows near the other edge of the rooftop where he had been observing with Mike and Don.

“Dude, Leo told you to throw one ninja star, not every weapon in your belt,” Mike admonished.

“Yeah, well, I fuckin' missed with the first two, alright?”

“You missed? That’s impossible. You never miss.” 

“I don’t know, Mikey, but I did. I didn’t mean to kill that guy.”

“Were you trying to kill the vigilante then? Because that’s how it looked from over here.”

Leonardo stepped up to the edge of the roof. “That’s enough, you two. We can discuss this later. Raph, retrieve your weapons. Donny, get eyes on him.” 

“Already on it,” Donatello stated from his position on the roof as he rifled through his duffelbag.

“Mike, put in a call to the police about the dead man. I want his name on the scanners so we can figure out what our guy wanted with him.”

Leo watched as Raph jumped off the edge of the building, lightly swinging from one fire escape to the next. He landed without a sound beside the dead guy, pulled his sai from his chest and pried the shuriken from the concrete. He bowed to the body on the ground, “Sorry man, didn’t think he was gonna use ya as a human shield.”

“I’ve got our guy, Leo,” Donatello’s excited voice rang out. 

Leo turned away from the roof's edge and squatted down beside him. Don passed over the handheld he had pulled out of the duffel. He had been playing around with drones at the lair for the past month and this was the first time they had been used in a non-training situation. The heat signature setting showed someone moving quickly out of a building south of their location, before making a sharp turn west and up.

“That has to be him. No one else in this immediate vicinity is moving that fast. And I don’t think the average New Yorker scales buildings.” Donatello looked over to Leo, a satisfied expression on his face that his new toy was proving itself useful.

Leo’s expression turned pensive, as he warred with his desire to intercept and question the man versus just following and observing. His command to Raphael to throw one shuriken was meant to test the man’s skill and keep him distracted enough that his target could have a fighting chance against him. After dodging both, it was apparent that his skill was likely superior to their own and that his target never would have survived a fight. Like Michaelangelo said, Raph never missed. This guy was good and that meant he was dangerous.

“We’re going to follow him. He’s after someone else and we need to know why.” 

He turned to look at Raph as he vaulted back over the rooftop, sai tucked snugly into his belt. “Try not to kill this next one.”

\-------

Ten minutes later, the four turtles waited quietly on the roof above a closed pizzeria. They had tracked the masked vigilante here and from the drone's camera had watched him pick the lock to the back door. He had just enough of a head start that they were fairly confident he didn't know he had been followed. 

“I’m going in. Raph, you’re with me. You two stay here. If he leaves, follow him and report back a location.” He didn’t wait for a reply. He knew that his brothers could see how serious he was about this situation and would follow his orders.

"Raph, bring me back a pizza, dude." 

Leo's sharp eyes cut immediately over in Mike's direction, silencing him with the tiniest hint of a frown. Mike sheepishly dropped his head, a half smile still on his lips. Raph and Leo dropped down the side of the building, quietly opened the back door and slipped inside. They stayed flush against the wall on either side of the door as they took in the surroundings. The kitchen area was dark. Ovens ran along the entire left side. The right wall had a prep counter and a narrow window looking out to the dining room. It was dark, but there was a small sliver of light emanating from the room farthest in the back. The door was open and the shadow it left would make a perfect spot to eavesdrop from. They soundlessly walked across the room and stopped just to the right of the door, protected in the dark. Raph pulled out a small mirror from his belt and handed it over. Leo crouched and slid the mirror next to the bottom hinges of the open door. They could easily hear when the voices started. 

“Come on, Lee, I don’t want to hurt you to get this information. You’ve seen what I can do. I’ve been taking you guys out one by one all over town. You know you don’t have much time left.”

“If ya kill me, there’s another waiting to take my place. Besides, ya think the Kingpin doesn’t have plans for you?”

The man started laughing and Leo wondered if it was from hysteria or actual amusement. He was seated in a chair positioned across the room from an office desk, arms and legs bound by zip ties. The vigilante was leaning back against the desk, arms crossed. The only sign that there had been a struggle was the fresh blood oozing from a gash on Lee’s forehead and the mess of papers strewn across the room.

Raph looked over to Leo and mouthed _Kingpin?_ Leo shook his head no. Neither had heard much about the man beyond the fact that he had been imprisoned. Donatello was the one who knew everything about everyone in the city. Raph pulled out his shell cell and texted him. _Listen to this. Need your brain figuring out the players._ He waited until the read receipt flashed and then called him, turning down the volume completely. He placed the phone close to the door frame so the audio could be picked up.

“The Kingpin might as well be dead. He’s useless behind bars.”

The bound man’s laughter finally died down, “That’s what you think, Devil. He’s got eyes an' ears all over this town an' in that prison. Cops can’t take a shit without him knowing about it.”

“Why are you protecting people who work for him? You have no family. What does he have on you that's worse than me killing you?”

“Ya think I’m afraid a dying? Neh, I ain’t afraid a that. I’m afraid of living after he gets a hold of me. Ya ain’t seen what he does to rats.”

“You’re already betraying him. That flesh trade you’ve got going on at the docks isn’t what he asked you to do. The Kingpin is dirty, but he doesn’t deal with human slavery.” 

“He lets us make our own business. I give him his due, shut my mouth an' take his orders an' he leaves me be. It’s just a lil’ side money.”

The turtles watched as the vigilante turned his back to his target, clearly frustrated, rifling through the few papers left on the desk. Because of that, he missed seeing the man pulling a knife out of the side pocket of his cargo shorts. He quickly cut through the zip tie on that arm and then moved to the next one. Raph started to move towards the open door, but Leo’s hand on his arm stilled him. The vigilante turned suddenly and threw a ball point pen at the man’s free hand. It completely pierced the palm and entered the wrist of the arm below it, impaling the two together. Lee’s scream echoed throughout the building. 

“I have three more pens and a couple of pencils. And I’m sure I can find some paper clips around here somewhere. You really want to do this?” The vigilante’s voice was quiet but deadly. 

“There ain't no one else. It’s all me, I told ya already.” Lee’s eyes betrayed his panicked words as they darted over to the filing cabinet in the corner.

The vigilante’s head cocked to the side as if he was listening to something. “You’re lying, Lee.” He quickly strode over to him, removed his baton from the pouch on the side of his leg and hit the man across the temple. Lee immediately slumped down in the chair, unconscious. 

Leo and Raph looked at each other in confusion as the vigilante pulled out a cell phone and hit a speed dial number. 

“Ben, I need your help. I’ve got a filing cabinet and a safe that may have evidence…. Yeah… on 9th, Lee’s pizza shack.” 

He hung up the phone and looked down at Lee, sighing. He removed the pen from his hand and arm and re-zipped it to the chair. The turtles watched as he moved over to the safe in the wall behind the desk. He placed his head next to the wall and forcefully spun the combination lock. It made 4 rotations before he stopped it completely. Then he slowly turned the dial once to the right, once to the left and again to the right. The safe door clicked and popped open. The vigilante’s hand went into the safe and felt around. He nodded once and then turned away from it. 

Leo stood up and angled the mirror towards the safe, confirming that there was a folder tucked inside. He squatted back down to Raph and signed to him _We wait_

Raph nodded and pointed to his shell cell on the floor. Leo picked it up, hanging up on Don and then texting him. _Sit tight out there, another person is coming. We are waiting._

He hoped Don and Mike would be able to get a visual on the guy coming in and give adequate warning if it was necessary. They both silently scooted away from the door, deeper into the shadows as they waited for whoever Ben was.


	4. Chapter 4

Matt waited patiently, sitting behind the desk, arms crossed over his chest. He concentrated on the scumbag across the room, wanting to know immediately if he started regaining consciousness. He heard the stutter of Ben’s car long before his friend walked through the back door. Ben released a short shrill whistle to identify himself. 

“I’m back here in the office, Ben.”

“Huh, I’ve never been in the kitchen of a pizza joint before. Cool place. Woah, you did a number on that desk, man.”

Matt sensed his friend reluctantly walk through the office door. He shrugged. “I had to make it look like I was searching for something. I still have a cover to maintain.”

“Is any of that useful?”

“How the fuck am I supposed to know?”

“Alright, alright, calm down. I’ll look at it. So I take it you’re gonna let that one live?”

Ben pointed to the guy slumped in the chair across the room before looking at his arm. He dropped it back to his side, shaking his head at his mistake. Matt smiled. Ben had no idea the abilities he possessed to be able to “see.” He had tried explaining it once but realized that it was sometimes better in his line of work to pretend to be more disadvantaged than he actually was. 

“I haven’t decided yet. I’m contemplating leaving him as a warning for the rest of them.”

Ben approached the desk, “So, what am I looking for? What’d this guy do?”

“He’s bringing in undocumented workers from overseas and selling them. He’s telling the migrants that they’re getting papers and starting a new life here and then selling them into some sort of forced labor. I need to know who he’s working with and the names of his buyers.”

Matt stood up from the desk, walking over to where Lee sat tied in the chair and leaned up against the wall. He leaned his head back, trying to calm his anger. He wanted to hurt this guy and keep hurting him. He wanted to make him pay for all the people he had hurt. A few days ago, he had rescued six people from a transport van, accidentally killing the driver before he could get any information out of him. The people in the van were too afraid to tell him much, instead just hesitantly pointed him in the direction of Pergada. He needed to get the rest of the people away from these animals. He sensed Ben rifling through the pages on the desk followed by opening and closing the drawers. 

“Do you think the guy in charge is reporting to Fisk?”

“No, it’s not Fisk, not this time. He’s into money laundering, staking territory and mob shakedowns. He doesn’t deal with selling people.”

“Nothing except pizza business at the desk and on the floor. Want me to check the safe?”

“Yeah, and that filing cabinet in the corner. Here, catch.” Matt tossed the key for the filing cabinet towards Ben. 

Ben caught the key, shaking his head. “It’s so creepy when you do that, when you know exactly where I am like you can see me.”

Matt laughed, a low self-deprecating chuckle, “You’d be surprised, Ben.”

Ben pulled the folder out of the safe, placing it on the desk and opening it. “This is definitely what you’re looking for. I’m gonna take some pictures so I can look up the details later.”

“Tell me.”

“Well, you were right about the shipping from overseas. This has shipping manifests, container numbers and a chart with names and amounts. The names might be buyers... Jason Knight, Oroku Saki, and Cassandra McKelvey. 

Matt paced around the room, mumbling the names to himself. What did they have in common, other than money and influence? Jason Knight was a research scientist at NYU, well renowned and doing incredible work with infectious disease control. Oroku Saki was involved in the tech industry. He had made a fortune years ago with satellite technology and was a big player worldwide in cutting edge tech for all sorts of handheld devices, automotive and medical hardware. Cassandra McKelvey was the wild card. She was a wealthy recluse, owning a series of high end clubs, bars and restaurants throughout the city. Matt could think of nothing that would link these three to the scum knocked out in the chair. “Why would these business owners need forced labor of untrained people?”

Ben looked up from the folder he was rifling through, looking around the room, then back to Matt, “Oh, are you asking me? Like I’m supposed to know the answer? I think this entire story sounds ridiculous and far fetched. I mean come on, companies buying people to work? Where? In their basements? Under their factories and labs?”

Matt stopped pacing to fix Ben with a sightless stare. “You literally wrote an expose about an alligator in the sewers and you’re calling this far fetched?”

“Yeah, and I already told you I made that up. This is serious, Matt. You better be 100% before you accuse these people of human trafficking. If you’re not, this could go very badly for you.”

“Then I guess you better help me be certain.”

“Why do I let you talk me into this shit?” Ben mumbled as he moved to open the filing cabinet. He opened the drawers one at a time, quickly checking the folder names and the contents inside each one. “These are normal business records, nothing special, tax returns, delivery invoices, employee W4s, hold up, what’s this?”

Ben pulled the folder labeled prospects, flipping it open and pulling out a flash drive. “This flash drive is the only thing in that cabinet that might be useful. Too bad the perp doesn’t have a computer in this lousy office.”

“Ben, can you...”

“Yeah, yeah, was already planning on it. I’ll call you when I get it plugged in and open, tomorrow. Give me some time to find out the details on these shipping containers also. Now go home. Get some sleep. You look exhausted.” He patted Matt on the shoulder as he left.

Matt looked around the office, realizing he needed to make it a bit more messy so they wouldn’t know what had been found until it was too late. He placed the single folder back into the safe, closing and locking it. He then walked over to the filing cabinet, pulling every folder out and dumping the contents, before pulling the entire cabinet away from the wall and dumping it onto the floor. He moved over to the desk and did the same with all the drawers there. Finally he was satisfied the mess was enough to keep Lee busy for a while. He hit Lee again on the temple on his way out the door. No sense having him wake up any earlier than he needed to.


	5. Chapter 5

Leo gave the masked man a ten second headstart before he picked up the phone sitting on the ground. 

“Don, who’s Ben?”

“Not a threat but definitely problematic. Come up to the roof and I’ll tell you about him.”

Leo clicked the shell cell closed, glancing up at Raph’s tight expression. 

“Oroku Saki? Leo? Is that what I just heard? Is that maniac collecting soldiers?”

Leo contemplated that possibility. It honestly was the only thing that made sense. The man had no need for forced labor. So why contract with the scum in Hell’s Kitchen to buy people? Why not just recruit from his usual group of purple dragons? What did he have to gain from a change in source?

“I don’t know, Raph, but we’re going to find out.”

They quickly scaled the building outside, noticing that Don was sitting cross legged on the roof, watching his drone display, once again tracking the vigilante. Mike crouched behind him, peeking over his shoulder.

Don looked up as Leo approached. “Ben is Ben Urich, the urban legend writer. He writes crap conspiracy stories, basically just glorified sci fi fanfiction.” Don’s voice dripped with animosity and hatred, “Remember that guy who was hunting for Leatherhead not far from his home? Mr. Urich wrote an article about an alligator in the sewers and that is why that hunter asshole showed up, guns fucking blazing.”

Don’s mouth turned down into a sneer. Mike’s countenance mirrored Don’s. The two of them had always been much closer to Leatherhead than he was so he could understand their protectiveness. He placed a hand on each of their shoulders.

“I need you two to focus right now. As much as I would love to bring someone to heel for attempting to expose our friend and our home, we have to take care of the bigger problem first. You heard the rest of that discussion down there. I need to know why the three people mentioned are involved in this. Raph thinks Oroku Saki wants more foot soldiers. I’m inclined to agree. I don’t know enough about the other two though. What I do know is that this masked man is not our enemy.”

Mike jumped up and raised a fist in the air, whooping, “I knew it! I knew you’d come around!” 

Leo smiled indulgently at Mike. “I didn’t say he was a friend. I just know that he’s not the bad guy in this situation. He wants the same thing we do, to find who’s behind this and bring them to justice. That doesn’t mean we can trust him, it just means we don’t need to hurt him.”

“He’ll be a friend, I have a feeling.” Mike said with a grin.

Raph paced at the edge of the roof, absentmindedly twirling his sai. “What’s the plan, Leo, we followin’ them or what?”

“We are. Mike, I want you and Don to go to Ben’s.” He glanced down at Don fidgeting with the drone controls, “I’m assuming you know where he lives.”

“Of course,” Don replied, not even glancing up.

“Right, so you two go get a copy of that data. Take it home and find out everything you can about this operation. Raph and I will follow the vigilante. I’d like to know where he lives and who he is. We’ll be home shortly. I don’t plan to engage and neither should you, not yet, especially if this guy likes to write monster stories.

“Understood, Leo, no touching the bad story writer. You can head south for now. There are some apartment buildings on the other side of the highway from Javitz. It looks like that’s where he’s heading. I’ll text you if he changes direction or stops.”

“Finally,” Raph growled, shoving his sai back in his belt and taking a running leap to the next building. Leo sighed and took off after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've taken some liberties here with the two fandoms and merged two stories about the same thing into one instance.
> 
> In the Daredevil movie, the alligator in the sewers story that Ben wrote is referenced multiple times. In Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vol 1 #6, Leatherhead is hunted by a big game trophy hunter who read about alligators in the NY sewers. [Mirage Vol 1, #6](https://www.miragelicensing.com/comics/mirage/tales/06/06.html).
> 
> It just made sense that for my purpose, they're all talking about the same story.


	6. Chapter 6

Matt immediately knew something was following him. He didn’t have much experience with drone technology but he recognized it well enough by the slight humming noise it made. It didn't matter that it consistently stayed about two blocks away. He could still hear it tracking his every movement. He wasn’t concerned. He could easily either lose it or disable it if it dropped down low enough. He just really wasn’t in the mood, at all, to deal with anyone or anything else tonight. He had backtracked and slipped through empty buildings three times and that stupid thing just sat and waited for him. He took to the rooftops, thinking he would have a better chance of tempting it to get closer. 

He ran lightly across the roof of the three-story business complex, feet barely touching the ground long enough to leave a print in the dampness that lingered from the earlier rain shower. Hell’s Kitchen was his playground. He knew these streets and rooftops like he knew the map of scars on his own body. He lived and breathed this section of New York City. Every loose ventilator screen, every creak of antenna, every gurgling drainage pipe, and every rattling fire escape sang to him. He flew from one building to the next, gloved hands briefly touching for stabilization as he landed. 

_Damnit._

The thing was still following him. Which meant that whoever was controlling it was probably nearby. He stepped through an access door that lead into the building, not bothering to lock it behind him. They would be along shortly. He just hoped the drone didn’t have a weapon attached. He leaned against the wall beside the door, extending his senses out beyond the rooftop. 

_Two can play this waiting game._

There, about three blocks away, he saw two figures, both wearing the bulky backpacks and helmets that he had seen earlier. They had been running, breath coming out quickly from exertion, but stopped suddenly. He focused to see if he could make out any words.

“What do you mean you lost him? How?”

“Really? So he’s inside the building?”

He heard one of them sigh and the other grumble.

 _Someone seems impatient._ Matt smiled at the thought. Impatience was fun to fight against. He hadn’t had a challenge in a while. And two on one just might do it for him. He was still not really wanting to deal with anyone else’s shit tonight, but if he had to, it might as well be entertaining. 

The two had stopped completely. They were leaning close and exchanging hushed words, words that Matt couldn’t make out this time. He wondered just how long they would wait before approaching the shed. They seemed reluctant to rush into the building after him.

Matt decided he would give them another five minutes to decide their play before he headed back in their direction. He wasn’t above forcing a confrontation. He wasn’t about to lead these assassins to his home so either they or their damn drone needed to be dealt with soon, because damnit, he was tired. Ben was right, he felt like crap and needed some sleep. He mentally reviewed his schedule for the next day while he waited. He knew he had a meeting at the jail with his newest defendant scheduled for 10 in the morning and was pretty sure that was the only thing he absolutely had to do. That was good. He could use the time in the afternoon to reach out to Ben about the drive he had found in the filing cabinet. 

The two figures started moving.

_Finally_

They approached almost silently. If it wasn’t for their footsteps on the wet rooftop, he would have had a hard time tracking them. They were good. He knew he made people nervous and most couldn’t control their breathing around him enough to be silent. Even more couldn’t relax enough to control a wildly beating heart. That was something he could always hear.

They effortlessly jumped across the gap between the buildings situated between them. They were two different sizes, one quite a bit bulkier than the other. He landed heavier and breathed heavier. The leaner one was quick and nearly silent enough to escape his detection. They crept closer to the shed. Their whispers sounded loud in the stillness of the night. 

“Remember we are just going to peek in and see if we can see where he went. I don’t want to be seen by anyone else.”

Matt debated jumping out in surprise and pushing them down the stairwell. He would still have to contend with the drone though and that would undoubtedly be much more irritating.

The bulkier one opened the door and Matt sprang out, slipping untouched between the two. He stepped back a couple paces, extending his baton and crouching into a ready position. The lean one rounded on him immediately, drawing out two swords from a scabbard on his backpack. The large one had a sai in each hand. They wasted no time engaging. Matt took a few more steps back, on the defensive and dodged their swings for just a moment as he gauged their ability. 

_Definitely a worthy challenge._

He didn’t recognize their fighting style but it was clearly martial arts and not typical street brawler. Well, the leaner one had martial arts moves. The larger one was mostly just angry. They worked well together though, each crowding him into their partner, keeping him dodging and dancing between them. They had obviously done this many times before. If he could keep from accidentally allowing them to hurt themselves, he’d have to remember to ask where they had trained.

The larger one’s sai were sharpened, making tiny little cuts every time they sliced across his armor. He was relentless in his attack, barely giving Matt room to move. His baton was making quick work of him though, every time a hand or foot managed to get close, his baton tapped against it. The guy was either wearing some sort of thick armor and gloves or was built like a semi truck, but he knew with enough exchanges, there would be bruising. Bruising would make for lazy fighting. One on one, he would have worn out the guy ten minutes ago. He could tell that his breathing was strained at is was, even with the small breaks Matt was forced to give him as he split his time between the two.

The leaner one was proving to be more of a challenge. He was not as aggressive, but made up for it with skill. He was quick and easily stepped out of the way of the baton reach, never letting it make contact. Matt had never had to retreat from a weapon aimed at his face this quickly but those swords were getting close. They rang out visually as they sliced the air around him. Each time he blocked the path of one, the second would move in. He ducked when he sensed the aggressive one coming up behind him with the blunt end of the sai aiming for his temple. 

Matt wondered why the leaner one hadn’t put both swords against his neck by now. Had he not been wearing an armored jacket, they would have gotten close enough to shave his arm hair, but he hadn’t even been cut by them. He could tell that he was skilled enough. It seemed as though he was holding back, keeping him on edge and not letting him near or to get an advantage. He raised back up to his full height, sliding a knife from his boot, tucking it against his forearm. He meant to end this, one way or another. He really had initially expected this to end much quicker than it had. He had more important things to do tonight, like blacking out in his sound proof coffin tub. 

The swords and the sai came at him once again, this time with a little more intent behind them. He shifted just past the first sword arc, kicking a leg out behind him to drop the larger guy to the roof, both of the sai falling out of his grip. He followed the fall of his body down. He felt the cold pressure of steel from the second sword against his neck as he was dropping. He landed in a straddled position across the fallen guy, hand at his throat, knife clearly visible and pressed tight against him.

_And this would be a standoff. They fight well together but will they sacrifice each other for the job?_

He waited. He felt the tenseness behind the sword at his throat, the pounding of the blood from the arm that held it. The one under him was suddenly calm, as if resigned. His heartbeat slowed and his body relaxed. Matt had to check himself to make sure he hadn’t actually sliced through his neck. 

The sword withdrew and the lean man stepped back, sheathing both swords. Matt moved off of the guy underneath him, placing the knife back into his boot. It was probably a bad move to let them know where he kept it, but whatever. He had others hidden in his armor. The larger guy stood, retrieving his weapons and placing them into a belt at his waist. 

He appeared to look straight at them. He knew that with the new moon, it was almost completely black outside and they would be hidden to normal eyes, especially up here away from the lights of the streets. He could faintly hear the blood pulsing through their limbs and their shallow breaths, both of which outlined them for him. 

“Why are you following me?”

“Who are you?” Sai asked. 

_Not assassins with an intent to kill, then._

“No, you don’t get an answer until I do.”

He heard the small puff of air that was released, indicating an underlying tension that had nothing to do with their current standstill.

Swords stepped forward a bit, calmly speaking, “We aren’t trying to kill you. We just need answers.”

Matt wondered which of the two was the one in charge of this ambush. With both having attacked and both speaking, it was difficult to tell who he needed to focus on. He also wanted to know how their voices were so clear through their helmets. Actually, now that he thought about it, when he was fighting them, it didn’t seem as though they were wearing any armor at all. Those backpacks never moved independently of their bodies, which certainly didn’t make sense. And when he dropped Sai on the ground, he very distinctly heard flesh hitting the surface.

“That makes three of us then, doesn’t it? I’ll repeat the question for you. Why are you following me?”

A pause from Swords, then “We know all about Oroku Saki, far more than you do. Tell us what you are looking for and maybe we can help each other.”

Matt contemplated this for a moment. He had just recently discovered the man was involved, so how could these guys know so quickly? If they had worked for Oroku, then getting them to talk would be quicker than discovering anything on his own. He wasn’t really willing to make deals with criminals and assassins, but maybe something could be worked out that he would be comfortable with. And he was rather curious about these guys. He had heard tales of mutated men. Hell, Ben filled his head with enough crazy stories. _Could these guys be some sort of metahuman?_

He settled for a small allowance of the truth, “He’s a bad guy and is involved in some shady criminal shit. I’m planning to find out what so I can give him justice. So tell me what you know and I’ll make sure it happens quicker.”

Sai barked out a laugh, “Mikey was right, go figure.”

Swords tilted his head and crossed him arms, “We have fought against him before. You’re going to want our help.”

It was Matt’s turn to laugh, “Thanks, but no thanks, I don’t want sidekicks.”

Sai pulled his weapons back out of his belt, growling, “I’ll show ya sidekick.”

An outstretched arm from Swords immediately halted his forward advance.

_So, Swords is the leader. Good to know._

“You may not want our help, but I promise you that you will need it. Oroku Saki is not quite what you would expect. He is far more dangerous than you can imagine. We have fought against him, successfully and unsuccessfully many times. You will absolutely want our intel and guidance.”

Matt sighed. He really wanted to pull his face mask off and run his hand through his hair. This entire situation was beyond frustrating. He didn’t want any liabilities. He barely used Ben and only when Foggy wasn’t available. He certainly didn’t want to be responsible for these men getting hurt. Swords was telling the truth though. He really did think Matt would need him. It certainly sounded like he knew what he was getting into at the least, and seemed to be able to handle himself in a fight well enough. Far be it from him to hinder two men with a death wish.

“Fine, but on my terms. First, you disable that drone. My home and my life are private. I won’t have you following me beyond this point. This rooftop can be our meetup point in the future if we need to meet face to face. Secondly, I’ll take your number and call you tomorrow when I have information. You can then tell me all about your little friend. And third, are you metahuman? I need to know what I’m working with. And don’t try to lie, because I will know if you do.”

“We accept these terms. I’m not sure how to answer your third demand. I an unfamiliar with that word, metahuman.”

“Superhuman, otherworldly, mutant, anything other than an ordinary person walking around. Your shape is not human typical, hence the question. It’s a little dark out tonight, so it was difficult for me to see at first,” Matt smirked at the little white lie. 

They both looked at each other, obviously conveying something between themselves. Swords grabbed the right hand of Sai and signed something into it. Matt nearly laughed. They had no idea that he could sense the movement of their hands against each other. He could very easily see what they were communicating back and forth and could also suddenly see the shape of their hands very well, which confirmed his supicions. He was never going to reveal his weakness and strength to them and lose the upper hand.

‘Tell him?’

‘Not a good idea, writer friend’

‘He knows, just wants to confirm’

‘Make the asshole wait’

‘He tells what he knows first’

Matt clenched his jaw at being called an asshole by Sai. _Takes one to know one, big guy._

They turned back towards him and the leader was once again talking, with a definite increase of authority behind his voice, “We will tell you tomorrow. If you keep up your end of the deal, then you will know everything we know, including who and what we are.”

He couldn’t deny that was a smart move. He should have anticipated it. After all, negotiating and convincing was kind of his specialty. Regardless, he had enough on his plate tonight. The mystery of the ninja men could wait another day. The sweet silence of his coffin tub was calling. “Swords, tell me your phone number.”

He felt the man’s brief confusion before realizing that he was talking to him. A ten-digit number was rattled off and Matt committed it to memory.

“I’ll call you tomorrow afternoon. Take your drone with you.”

Matt walked to the edge of the rooftop, flicked his hand in the air as a goodbye wave and dropped off the side, launching off a fire escape and sliding down a drain pipe. He waited in the shadows at the bottom for a few minutes as he sensed the two men and the drone heading back north.


	7. Chapter 7

Donatello watched the drone display as Raph and Leo took off across the rooftops, gaining ground on their target. They wisely kept a few blocks spacing between them and the vigilante. He had researched the masked man more than what he had initially revealed to Leonardo. The internet chatter was calling him Daredevil and The Man Without Fear. Don was worried about forming an alliance and if Mike knew what the papers were calling him, then he would never shut up about being part of a caped crusader team. From what he had gathered, Leo’s fear about his danger was correct. The guy was practically unstoppable in the way he fought. As he watched the heat signature run through the streets and then take to the roof of a three story building, he was again left with a grudging amount of respect. They had trained and fought with humans before but none of them, even with extensive training, had been able to scale a building as quickly as this guy was.

Mike paced in front of him. He had a similar pent up energy as Raph always did when they were out on a mission. His little brother was perpetually in motion when they were fighting against opponents and the silent down time between action was particularly challenging for him to deal with. Don routinely got paired up with him because the pacing and the aggravated huffs didn’t bother him like it did the others. He understood the anxiousness. He was the same way when he was engrossed in an experiment or a technical problem that needed solving. The wait time between steps was always enough to drive him to the edge of irritation. 

He was anxious to get to that flash drive, but he wanted to make sure Leo and Raph were heading to the right location before he and Mike went to Ben’s. They would need to be silent when breaking into his apartment so he would be unable to assist them if they needed further tracking. 

“Sorry, Mikey. It’s probably only going to take another few minutes.” 

Don watched as the vigilante leaped over the chasm separating the building he had scaled to the next one then frowned as he paused next to an access entrance. This building wasn’t residential. It housed offices on the top two floors and restaurants on the bottom level. There was no way he lived in there and he certainly wouldn’t be entering from the top anyway, even if he did. Don wondered if this meant that he was stopping for another target. Maybe he had received intel that they weren’t privy to just yet. He picked up the phone to call Leo and alert him to the detour.

As the phone rang, he watched the figure on the screen enter the building.

“Leo, I lost him.”

_What do you mean you lost him? How?_

“He entered the access entrance on the roof of the Italian bistro. It’s not residential so I don’t know why he went in there.”

_Really? So he’s inside the building?_

“Yes, definitely inside. This may be a detour to another target, could be a distraction. I think you should at least check it. I’ll maintain visual on my end.”

He saw Leo motion to Raph on the screen and listened as they quietly discussed the option of waiting versus following. They agreed with him that it needed to be checked out, on the chance that the guy was after someone new. 

He hung up and watched nervously as they approached and opened the stairwell door and almost shouted when the vigilante slid past them, pulling a baton out of his hip holster. Mike rushed back over to sit next to him, one hand on Don’s arm, the other across his mouth in surprise. Don fiddled with the controls, turning the heat signature portion down and zooming in so they could see more details of the figures on the roof.

They watched in silence as their brothers fought with the masked man. Minutes ticked by as punches and kicks were thrown and dodged. They could see that Leonardo was being careful with his swords, using them more to corral than to harm. Raph was pulling no punches however. He was not fully on the _We could be allies with this guy_ train yet. It seemed as though Leo was willing to allow him this. Raph’s weapons weren’t as debilitating as a pair of katana, so if they were going to bring this guy to heel, sai were the safer choice.

The vigilante stayed between the two brothers, never fully getting an advantage over them. His head flashed back quickly as Leo’s right arm swung past, sword extended towards his neck. As the sword sliced through the air just barely missing him, Raphael ducked down with both sai turned inward, hilt at the ready to crush into the back of his calves. Daredevil dropped and rolled away, making two full rotations along the ground to give himself enough space to stand without a weapon in his face. The brothers circled again, one in front and one behind. Don had seen them do this before when facing down the Foot Clan. They knew that dividing themselves in this way was their best shot at incapacitating him. The baton that Daredevil had pulled out had only managed to make contact with Raph during their fight. Every time Raph moved to the front or side of the guy, the baton tapped across his hands and wrists. Don knew that had to be starting to hurt. 

“Raph is going to wear himself out,” Don remarked.

“That guy is incredible,” Mike whispered. His wide eyes never left the screen and were completely filled with wonder. “Watch how he dodges them. It’s like he knows what they are going to do with their weapons before they even start to move.”

Now that Mike had pointed it out, Don started paying more attention to the vigilante. He was responding to movement behind him, without even looking at it. As he turned toward Raph, he ducked the onslaught of Leo’s twin swords. And as he faced Leo’s swords, he moved his arm out of the way of Raph’s sai behind him, before they even came close to contact. He could understand quickly picking up on Leo’s fight style. Leo was extremely skilled, but was studious in his ninjitsu practice and stuck to the classic strike moves most of the time. Raph was another story, though. How could it be possible that he could anticipate Raph’s moves? His hotheaded brother never fought with a particular style. Too much time spent patrolling with Casey meant that Raph preferred to mix up their father’s teachings with a bit of street brawl. Without studying him, there was no way to anticipate how he would attack. Most of the time, Don believed even Raph himself didn’t know how he was going to strike until he was doing it.

“You’re right, Mikey. He’s not reacting, he’s anticipating.” 

Leo’s swords were barely brushing the man’s clothing, not enough to cut into the fabric, but enough to keep him moving. Raph was inflicting far more damage with his sharpened sai, but also not enough to mortally wound. Leo definitely must have warned him against hurting the man beyond the point of being able to answer questions. Don felt dumb for having fallen for the trap that the Daredevil had laid out. Had he known that he was just waiting there in the stairwell, he would have told Leo and Raph to back off. Sitting and waiting was one of Leo’s strong points. He could and had previously done that on another mission for an entire day without complaint. There was no way that the vigilante could outlast his brother. Their intent was to be unseen and follow him, but since they had been pushed by Don into that cleverly laid trap, they were dealing with it as best they could.

Wearing an opponent down was easily Leo’s second strongest trait. Dealing with Raph and Mikey their entire lives was a testament to the amount of patience he possessed. Raph was not so patient. If the drone had been equipped with a better mic, he was sure he would have been able to hear his growls of frustration. He almost smiled, knowing that the hothead was about to let loose a wave of fury into the fight. Then he noticed the vigilante pull out a knife from his boot. Mike tensed next to him, having noticed it also. 

Just as he predicted, Raphael moved in closer, clearly intent on dropping the guy for good with his sai. Daredevil kicked out behind him as Raph got into striking range, then promptly followed him down along the ground, twisting over his body as they dropped to the concrete roof. The knife was held tight against Raph’s throat. Leo had pressed as they fell, ending up directly behind him, sword against the side of Daredevil’s neck.

“Oh damn. This is bad.” Mike breathed out the words rattling inside Don’s head.

Everything on the screen stopped. Don glanced at the time stamp at the top of the display, questioning whether he had accidentally paused the recording. Leo wasn’t moving. Raph wasn’t moving and had even closed his eyes briefly, submitting to the man straddling him.

Finally, the katana retreated and the knife retreated and Don and Mike both let out the breath they had been holding.

They watched as the three on the screen stood up and stepped back away from each other. Once again, Don wished for a better microphone and made a mental note that he would upgrade that as soon as he had a chance.

Mike leaned back, putting his hands against the roof behind him. He nodded towards the drone display. “This is the part where Leo tells our secret hero that he’s the good guy and to forget all about that sword incident. Oh and yeah, by the way, don’t worry about us being giant talking turtles. That's all part of The Plan.”

Don chuckled a bit at that. He and Mike used to play this game when they were kids. Any time Leo was ramping up an argument with Raph in another room, they would sit back and whisper to each other what they thought was being said. It honestly didn’t ever matter what was actually said, they could both recite The Leonardo Lecture and The Raphael Rebuttal from memory. 

At one point, Raph jumped forward and was stopped by Leo. 

Don smiled at the rookie mistake, “Raph just got insulted. How much do you want to bet it was a sidekick comment. I could see that getting a response like that,” He looked over to Mike, wondering if he would agree with him.

“Oh that is definitely a sidekick face,” Mike laughed.

Another few minutes passed before the meeting seemed to be concluded. Daredevil stepped closer to the edge of the roof and Leo raised his hand in the air, making a motion to return and back off. 

“Guess we don’t get to find out where he lives after all,” Don sighed, grabbing hold of the controls and dropping the drone in standby mode close enough to the roof for Leo to snatch it out of the air and turn it off.

He quickly stowed the drone control and display into his duffle. 

“Alright, Mikey, let’s get over to Ben’s and find that flash drive.” 

\----

It took about 15 minutes of rooftop jumping before they arrived at the apartment building address Don had dug up on the net earlier. Ben Urich’s apartment was on the second floor of the south side of the building, directly across from a commercial building that would be completely empty at this time of night. As luck would have it, he also had a window and fire escape access from his living room. The two landed silently on the metal steps outside the window. 

Mike peeked around the edge of the windowsill then turned to nod at Don, “It’s dark and empty in that room. His bag is on the couch.”

Mike finished attaching the climbing claws Don handed him from the duffle. He left the fire escape, easily scrambling over to the window to the right of the metal structure. He stealthily leaned his head just past the rim of the window before glancing back over to his brother. 

“He’s in the bed, looks passed out asleep.”

“I’m going to go inside and see if the drive is in the bag. It won’t take me long to make a copy. I need you to be on lookout and a distraction if he leaves his bedroom for any reason. Oh, and I'm going to need to get that photo from his phone, damn.” 

“No sweat, you've got this, bro.”

Mike perched himself on the wall outside the bedroom window. Being the most athletic of the four, he was always given climbing duty. And more often than not, sentry duty went right along with it. And no one would deny that the Mikester had the best distraction methods. He had perfected all manner of animal sounds and bird whistles. His peacock imitation was the best. Those birds were really loud and almost sounded like human babies. Birds wouldn’t be making any noises at night though and peacocks were only found at the zoo, so he’d have to settle for other animals. He could make an angry squirrel noise, or maybe he could do a baby crying. If he could make a peacock wailing sound, he could definitely do a baby sound. He glanced back into the bedroom to make sure the guy hadn’t moved. Nope, still out like a log. 

He had been wanting to see if he could mimic a police siren, but those were heard so often in this neighborhood that it wouldn’t really count as a worthy distraction noise. The best bet would be the old tried and true cat fight or maybe a big dog. Mike chuckled, imagining how weird it would sound to have a dog growling from your fire escape. They once had a dog wander down into the sewer. Talk about weird. They had no idea how it could have gotten down there. It was big, too. It wasn’t like it could have fallen through the grate. It had to have gotten in from one of the marine outfalls and then traveled the miles it took to get closer to the city. Which, now that he was thinking about it, was also strange. Why would it wander for miles into the unknown when it could have just went back out the way it came in? Or maybe someone was trying to get rid of it and pushed it down one of the grates or manhole entrances. They had quickly taken it back to the surface, letting it loose near one of the apartment buildings near April’s old shop, hoping someone would adopt it.

“Mikey, I’m done. Get back over here,” Don’s whisper cut through the quiet night and jolted him back to the present. 

Mike glanced once more at Sleeping Beauty and then worked his way back over to the fire escape.

“I copied the drive and the phone he left in the kitchen. I also found a flash drive on his coffee table that looked like it might contain some of the current stories he’s drafting. Might as well stay a step ahead of this asshole, huh?”

Mike smiled at the devious grin on his brother’s face, “This is why you’re the genius in the family.”

He watched Don stow a little black box and some flash drives into his duffle and handed him the shuko claws as well. Once everything was zipped away and the bag was secured across Don’s back, they took off towards home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looking for a beta reader for this story and someone to bounce some ideas off of about other stories. Let me know if you want to help.


	8. Chapter 8

Sleep was always a welcome respite from the noise of his life. Matt thanked his past innovative self every night when he crawled into his literal water bed. The only problem with it was that morning came blaring back much too soon. The second his waterproof watch vibrated against the inside of his wrist, Matt was awake. Any lingering dreams of fuzzy images and remembered sounds were pushed aside as easily as he pushed the lid of his bed away. 

He dressed quickly, trying to ignore the unceasing cacophony of the outside world as its inhabitants battled rush hour and long lines at the coffee shop. He was actually a little bit excited to get through the morning. He was looking forward to finding out what Ben had discovered. 

Their partnership had developed steadily over the past year. There was a healthy amount of distrust initially, mostly on Matt’s behalf. It took a while for Ben to convince him that they were on the same side and that he could rely on him, for the small price of always receiving the inside scoop of course. It took even longer for him to trust that Ben wouldn’t run with a story before justice had been served. One instance of a criminal skipping town ahead of the police was all it took for Ben to promise to hold off on printing until Matt gave the okay. 

Matt didn’t have any other options though, not when he needed someone with actual sight. He didn’t want Foggy to know about his extracurricular activities, not because he didn’t trust him but because he wanted to protect him. Anyone who knew the truth would become a target. Matt was more willing to lose Ben than he was to lose his best friend. 

_Speaking of best friend. He’s going to be pissed if I’m late again._

Matt finished up in his mausoleum of a residence and swiftly hailed a cab to get him to the office. 

\---------

“That went well,” Franklin said, as he leaned back in his chair. His feet went up on the desk and his arms crossed behind his head. “We might even get paid for real by this one.” 

“The cheese wheel not doing it for you this week?” 

“You know, as much as I complain about not getting a payment in money from the people we defend, I actually kind of like the nice charcuterie boards I’ve been able to put together.”

“Well, we won’t know if we’re going to take the case until we speak with the actual defendant. His mother was nice, but you know I need more than that before committing.”

“I know, I know, your weird little heart beat thing. I get it. We’ve got time set aside this afternoon to go to the jail and visit him. In the meantime, how about you buy me lunch?”

Matt smiled indulgently. He wanted to speak with Ben, so going out to pick up lunch was a perfect excuse to get away and make a phone call. “Sure, I’ll go pick up something.”

He grabbed his suit jacket and headed outside. 

He cleared the building and walked a few blocks before stepping off the sidewalk out of the way of pedestrians. He leaned back against the building and pulled out his cell phone, pressing and holding the number 5 to speed dial Ben.

Ben's voice filled his ear as soon as the call was answered, "Hey, I've got that info you needed."

His reporter friend was always quick to get to the point. Once again, Matt sent up a silent thanks that they had become partners.

“Lay it on me.”

“The three people in question are indeed purchasing what you suspected. The reasons are unclear from the documents. But they each paid a large sum of money for regular shipments. Men are being separated out and sent to the tech giant. Women are being sent to the club lady. Children are being sent to the lab guy. There are two scheduled shipment arrival dates. The next one is a week from today at 11pm. It appears all interested parties will be present. In the order of children, women, then men, starting at 11:30. According to the schedule, each buyer is expected to be on site for less than one hour.”

Matt mentally tallied up everything he would need to bring this operation to a screeching halt. Having all three in one night was going to make things very difficult. There was no way he could prevent each one without the ones after knowing about it. But, could he let the first two go in order to catch the last one? He didn’t think he could in good conscience do that either. He could give a tip to the authorities, but would they bumble it like they managed to do every other time he went that route?

“Fuck”

“Hey, I’m just the messenger, don’t take this out on me.”

Matt sighed, “That is a very tight schedule for one person to deal with.”

“Well, I’m not going to be able to help you with this one. This is way out of my league. Maybe just call the actual police this time?”

“Yeah, maybe.” Matt closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall, wishing he wasn’t going to have to do what he was about to do. “I’ll take it from here. Just please hang on to this for now. I don’t need this one slipping out early.”

“You got it. I’ll wait until you give me the green light. Gonna need some more to the story anyway.”

Matt hung up and sent a voice text to Froggy that he needed to take care of something but would send take out to the office. He hailed a cab. This next conversation needed to be in private and he knew one place wide open enough that he could watch for prying ears.

When he reached Central Park, he settled onto his favorite bench and dialed the number for his new sidekick team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've taken a few liberties with technology. During the time of the Daredevil movie and the TMNT comics and movies, cell phones weren't really as widely in use or in use at all, but I've made them a part of the story just to make things smoother.


End file.
